the strange passage of time

received a facebook invite to a friend's birthday party and it's that time of the year again.

four years ago, the day i passed my driving test or very shortly after, i drove over for his birthday but with granny in the car because i couldn't drive alone then! conveniently forgetting while on the way there, that having granny in the car meant that i'd probably have to go straight home! such a rookie error :( so i dropped off the tiramisu, ok, more like thrust the tiramisu at the ever reliable jonathan (birthday boy nowhere to be found, probably sexytiming somewhere, come to think of it), and went straight home, frazzled enough by driving on the expressway for the first time. 

friend fail.

the next year, at the next party, i've great memories of us ordering in too many chicken mcnuggets (probably in the hundreds) and scoffing nuggets at the nearby playground. juvenile as it sounds in retrospect, that was a fun night. i think a few plastic dustbins of the sembcorp kind were involved but mcnuggets, my love, was a distinct memory.

and of course in all that time, people come and go. the birthday boy once got all emo while we were at cafe del mar (omgosh, retro maxxx) lamenting that he'd lost the love of his life and was doomed to a life of wanton lust in a monastry (?!) but fast forward two, maybe three years, and this year his birthday party is at his girlfriend's, where he is the live-in lover. oh we used to joke about that, once upon a time before we all knew any better, but maybe we were prescient because it has indeed come to pass. 

so time is cyclical and suddenly i feel that the four years since i passed my driving test have flown by. my own birthday isn't the milestone, but this part of october somehow is.

(almost) annual pilgrimage to HK

was in HK in the beginning of 2006 and because it was a social visit, we stayed in what was, to me, the fanciest hotel ever. met with friends, wine and dined and it was a very comfortable trip.

returned in the middle of 2007 with 15 college friends. this time, the planner sourced us an apartment in hai fong mansion, off nathan road and just opposite tsim sha tsui station. we squeezed into 4 rooms in this misnomer of a building that was anything but a mansion. we'd the dubious honour of sharing a floor with massage parlours, syed baba worship centre, kumon, a karaoke bar and music school. remember sleeping like sardines, sharing a single bed with a girlfriend for 5 nights. shudder. but this particular trip to HK was special to me for two reasons. on our last night, as we sat by victoria harbour looking across the bay, i saw the hotel i stayed at the previous year and i felt a sense of pride surge within me, because i was back in HK on my terms and at my own expense, having ceased to receive parental support soon after high school. i'd brought myself to HK on hard-earned tuition money and the satisfaction was priceless. also, while i'd just 'roughed out' 5 days in less than luxurious conditions, looking across the water, i knew that one day i'd be back at the first hotel, on my own. the second reason is a little more personal, because while i was in my tiny room at hai fong mansion, i sprung awake one night certain that something was amiss and 30 seconds later, my mobile rang. and all it took was one X life-altering phone call and we've not looked back since :)

in summer 2008, we went to HKwith our favourite couple to celebrate his birthday, approximately a year after that significant phone call. this trip was different again, although i did get to revisit some of the haunts i liked from the previous year. this was especially special because we'd just gotten home after 10weeks together in europe. we travelled highlands and iceland (from london to belgium to scotland, drove around the whole of iceland), back to leuven, the it was off on a sand and sea leg (nice, monte carlo, cannes, road trip around corsica, toulon, avignon, marseille, lyon before heading to morocco - casablanca and marrakech). after that we met up with my folks for a mediterranean cruise (athens, kusadasi, ephesus, santorini, sarande, split, venice). he went back to leuven for exams and i solo-tripped to dublin and then amsterdam. when he was done with exams, we flew to prague then his parents came over and we met them in athens (our second time in a month!) and sailed to mykonos, revisited santorini in a more leisurely fashion then explored crete. surprisingly, after 10 weeks of non-stop travel (which concluded his year away), we weren't vacationed out and still made it to HK! being the sentimental sap i am, HK a year on and with him was a poignant reminder of how good the year had been.

skip 2009 and i was back in HK mid-2010, back at the first (fancy) hotel. sadly, it wasn't as fancy this time as i remembered it. semi-concerned that i've grown increasingly discerning (he says spoilt) but it was good to be back in my old stomping ground yet at a different stage all together :)

saigon day 5

can't remember what this' called but i had so much of it, even when i wasn't hungry. oh the joys of excess and holiday binging :)

and then it was back home for good, or at least till wanderlust next gets the better of me!

thanks for being part of the journey.

edit: stay tuned for the hong kong post, and review of waku ghin (tetsuya-san's restaurant at marina bay sands)

saigon day 4

needing a break from saigon, we took a day trip out to the mekong delta, passing through the land of coconut candy and longan honey. good fun and a great change of air :)

saigon day 3

today was my lazybones day. the rest went on a day trip to the cu chi tunnels and i opted to remain in my air-conditioned, non-claustrophobic comfort. when they were historied out, we went in search of french food and found this little gem through the combined powers of too many guidebooks to name. after solo trippin for a good few weeks, finally being sheep-like and following the leader was a welcomed relief :) the guys were awesome. they read up, they planned, they hailed taxis, they navigated, they were on hand to be size models and provide style advice... it was like HK all over again  in summer 07 when i suddenly found myself with 20kg of shopping (no exaggeration) and it was Y to the rescue as he gallantly brought my big construction worker plastic bag (the type they use to carry bricks) all the way to the airport. and by brought, i mean CARRIED because the dratted bag had no wheels!

saigon day 2

beef pho for breakfast

saigon sprawl

sozo cafe

dinner at the temple club

saigon day 1

saigon is always a shock to the system. the heat, the crowds, the mass of motorcycles. was very lucky to be with friends if not day one would have driven me crazy. it always takes a bit of adjusting to get used to the overwhelming weight that hits me whenever i go to saigon. something in me snaps and i want to hop on the next plane back. why i keep subjecting myself to saigon is beyond reason - before this, it was my absolute least favourite city. it's not that i don't like vietnam, don't get me wrong. phu quoc and hoi ann i absolutely adore but saigon! gag. but the company more than made up for my lack of enthusiasm, and guess what? by day 5, i was sold. vietnamese food is an acquired taste and i can safely say that thanks for J's persistence and having us fed and watered right at every opportunity, i developed a taste for vietnamese food and can now gobble mi like the best of them. still abhor pho though! every time i go to vietnam i've pho in hope that i'll change my mind. like maybe this time it'd be different! but nope, still not a fan.

oh, and we stayed at a really sweet hotel. i loved my single and the a la carte breakfast on the top floor overlooking the sprawl that is saigon.

saigon

while in aix, J (not to be confused with my host, J) made an interesting long-distance proposition.

"come to saigon."

"who what when where how"

"me, Y and our girlfriends."

"you're crazy."

"haiyah. you talk talk talk about your great SEA adventure. come la..."

"with not one but two couples???"

"friend friend. won't be weird, i promise."

"of course it won't be weird for you. you'll be too loved up to care even if it was."

"ok ok up to you.. don't say i bo jio."

*mumble grumble*

so there i was, sitting cross-legged on the futon in J's room, frantically trying to get access to a visa card to book my air tickets online. i very much liked how my eurotrip was dovetailing into a week in saigon :) the best way to get over prospective holiday hangover is to go on another right after! i must admit, continuing to suspend reality is one of my specialities. never mind that i'd been to saigon twice already (and wasn't particularly enamoured by the city), and to hoi ann earlier this year. was going purely for the company, and with the vague desire of acquiring a taste for vietnamese cuisine. anyhoos, i got around the double couple / 5th wheel problem by booking myself into a single in the same hotel. everybody had their space, everybody happy. also, J and Y are my oldest and dearest friends from school so if there was anyone i wouldn't be ostracised by, it'd be them.

was scheduled to arrive in singapore on the 17th, hang around for the weekend then on the 21st it was all systems go to ho chi minh!

thoughts

i graduate tomorrow.

yes, i've gotten used to the idea, having first finished my final paper in early may, and then i got my results by text while in stockholm (sitting in my kitchen surrounded by my housemates from last year - whoops all round, thank you very much. and then they tried to get me drunk on my own pear cider. not happening.) and then again when i began the post-grad course yesterday.

so why oh why am i suddenly immensely humbled and increasingly overwhelmed at the thought of traipsing down a stage in my cap and gown? even if for some reason i oversleep and skip commencement all together, i'll still have my qualifications... so it's not about the ceremony, really. but how it signifies completion, coming-of-age and unceremonious release to the big bad world. gulp.

that said, i'm determined to wear my booties with the gown. hehe.

and, on a more sober note, thank you god for opportunity.

featherweights

am vaguely disturbed that swedish K can effortlessly pick me up and lift me a few feet above the ground. reminds me of rag, when T & H decided that i was too heavy to be twirled for gravity-defying sexytimes.

then again, swedish K did the same to indian K (a boy) before gleefully declaring that i weighed more.

not exactly what i wanted to hear...

(i suppose it's only fair to add that swedish K's a construction worker accustomed to lifting concrete pillars.)

singapore boleh

perhaps unsurprisingly, being away from home has made me more in love with my tiny red dot.

and, i'm glad that they seem to agree.

it's a good read, thank you lovely men.

new years'

was toying with the idea of spending new year's away before realising that i've not been home for new year's since 2005-2006. which leaves me in two minds - do i stick with my new tradition while i can or should i stay home since i'm possibly going to miss christmas at this rate.

so while i wallow in nostalgia, let me share these memories :)

milan 31.12.07

was waiting outside the duomo for the clock to strike midnight but there were italian youths brandishing ignited firecrackers and throwing them at unsuspecting revellers. i stared one of them down (thus saving my trenchcoat from a certain fiery end) then figured it was time to retreat to more sophisticated surroundings. sought refuge at a charming jazz bar around the corner and spent a few hours nursing my EUR20 cocktail. oh the audacity!

bangkok 31.12.06

landed in bangkok a few hours before the bombs went off and were in blissful ignorance at saw sam sai (random alliteratively-named restaurant) until the various parentals started frantically calling to make sure we were ok. and then we found out that we were dangerously close to the blasts. which was quite the mood-killer. so we did the responsible thing, called the singers embassy to register our existence and survival, left the restaurant in groups of 2-3 at 5minute intervals, expertly dispatched by JK in full combat mode. made our way back to the hostel (but not before stockpiling enough bintang for a siege) and partied it up in our 2 x 10bedders. vaguely remember furtively peeking out of the hostel at 2350 and joining the congo line of drunk italians from the trattoria next door as we made the most of our self-imposed captivity in our tiny courtyard.

hello nakedlaywers, i miss you :(

oops

i think i accidentally missed my lawball.

friday evenings

there's something about fridays. the nakedlawyers first celebrated fridays with our friday night lonely hearts club back in freshman year. freshman year's a year i'm always nostalgic about because it was such a blast. not that the subsequent years have been bad (far from!) but there's a certain heady charm about the liberation of freshman year. bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we were up for any adventure and adventure we did! and in the quick span of a year, we aged beyond recognition and as we grew more refined, clinking glasses till they cracked was no longer socially acceptable (ok, maybe it never was), and we mellowed some.

so having at least some basis of comparison, friday evenings here are so different. i did my laundry yesterday and as i was walking home from the laundry room, i passed the ground floor rooms of my building. strolling past the open windows and surreptitiously peeking into my neighbours' rooms was like sampling slices of other people's lives. there was the girl in the corner room leaning out of her window with a cigarette, trying not to set-off the smoke detector in her room. there was a couple mid-argument in the next room, an asian boy on his electric guitar in the third. then i passed the kitchen, someone was making dinner, someone else was eating dinner and yet another someone was taking out the trash. it felt like both a cross-section and microcosm of life at the same time.

back on my floor, it seemed like nobody had friday night plans. which translated to everyone and their mother in the kitchen. and we all cook according to our colour and country. the french boy made a vegetable stir fry with zuchinni and tomatoes, the indian gents had curry and rice, the japanese girl was making miso soup, the chinese boy had the most delectable looking three-layer pork in dark sauce, the other french boy was eating pilaf and i made stir-fried pork in oyster sauce with onions and garlic. everyone's away from home but cooking the food we'd grown up on. and it's nice, really, to feel so disconnected and connected at the same time. it's at times like this that i realise the human condition is homogenous. and it was a friday night! so we sat around our tiny dining table, guffawing at the simpsons and family guy. maybe banal american humour transcends all race and language barriers. that's a true sign of globalisation and american cultural hegemony, don't you think?

oh and i'm some kind of oddity here because of my mini crock pot and habitual overnight marination. A-san, my japanese corridormate asked, "you is prepare second dinner, no?" when she saw me chopping the chicken and massaging the meat in the ziplock bag after eating my humongous dinner. and then, possibly thinking that i was still hungry, she gave me some miso soup :)

life is good.